FUSCHILLO BILL TO AID IN COLLECTION OF CHILD SUPPORT SIGNED BY GOVERNOR

Senator Charles J. Fuschillo, Jr. (R-Merrick) announced that Governor Cuomo has signed legislation he sponsored to help ensure that parents make their child support payments.

The law allows the state to continue suspending the driver’s licenses of parents who have failed to pay child support. Under the driver’s license suspension process, the state identifies parents who failed to pay child support and have a driver’s license. These individuals are then notified that their license will be suspended unless they make their child support payments. Without this extension, the program would have expired on June 30th.

“Parents have a moral and legal obligation to support their children. The driver license suspension program collects millions of dollars in child support payments each year. Now that this legislation has become law, the State can continue to use this effective enforcement tool to ensure that parents live up to their responsibilities,” said Senator Fuschillo.

Estimates are that the driver’s suspension process helps collect as much as $10 million in child support payments each year. Over 42,000 license suspension orders were issued for failing to pay child support in 2010, according to the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles.